Greeley City Council to vote on downtown hotel and conference center contracts

An artists rendering of the planned downtown Greeley hotel and convention center. A Greeley group is working to stop the project.

What’s next?

The City Council will discuss downtown hotel and conference center contracts during its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. today at the Greeley-Evans School District 6 headquarters, 1025 9th Ave. There will be a public hearing, which allows residents three minutes to share their opinions with the city council.

The planning process for a $31 million downtown hotel and conference center is wrapping up as Greeley officials meet to sign final contracts.

The council is expected to vote on an array of agreements tonight, including a 60-year lease to the project's developers and an $8.6 million advance for the planned DoubleTree hotel.

"If it's a go, Wednesday you could see construction equipment," Assistant City Manager Becky Safarik said during a meeting with The Tribune editorial board yesterday afternoon.

Planners hope to break ground on the 147-room hotel and conference center next week and open doors by July 2017.

The city council is expected to vote on a lease agreement between the city government and the hotel and conference center owners. The city will lease out about 80,000 square feet of land at 919 7th St. for 60 years.

The company will start making rent payments during the center's sixth year of operation, according to the agreement. Instead of assigning a dollar amount for rent, city officials asked for 0.8 percent of the facility's annual revenue to be paid each March. Financial planners expect that will bring in about $80,000 the first year, and by year 30, it would be an annual $163,000.

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The council is slated to vote on an $8.6 million loan, which would cover roughly 28 percent of the hotel and conference center's construction costs.

With interest, the city should get about $11.3 million back on that investment, Assistant City Manager Victoria Runkle said in an earlier interview.

Private investors — a group of 11 headed by auto dealer Scott Ehrlich — would pitch in 42 percent of construction costs with $13 million.

The rest will be borrowed.

In a separate ordinance, the council will vote on extra expenditures that weren't listed in the original budget approved last year. About $13 million would go to downtown projects, including the hotel and conference center.

The Downtown Development Authority, an agency dedicated to promoting downtown business and events, will contribute $1.5 million to the project. DDA board members approved the investment in a meeting last week.

That funding will help pay to knock down the Lincoln Park Annex and build the hotel and conference center's parking lot in its place.

"This project wouldn't be able to go forward if all three parties weren't at the table," Safarik said.

The hotel is expected replace the city's Lincoln Park Library, municipal court and Fire Station No. 1 and would take up the whole block at 9th Avenue between 6th and 7th streets, pending council approval. The move brings about a series of changes in downtown that also will result in a new city hall and fire station.

According to plans submitted earlier this month to the city, the hotel will have 147 rooms and will feature a restaurant and 25,000 square feet of conference space. That conference space will include a 12,000 square foot ballroom that can be broken into five segments, a smaller ballroom, breakout meeting rooms and restrooms.

Originally, the investor group planned for 8,000 square feet of conference space, Ehrlich said. Although building more space will cost more, most members advocated for it.

"It's easier to build more now than add more later," he said. "We did want to overbuild a little bit."

Ehrlich confirmed last week the investment group members are in talks with Providence Hospitality Partners of Denver to manage and operate the Lincoln Park hotel and conference center, as a DoubleTree hotel.

What’s next?

The City Council will discuss downtown hotel and conference center contracts during its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. today at the Greeley-Evans School District 6 headquarters, 1025 9th Ave. There will be a public hearing, which allows residents three minutes to share their opinions with the city council.